


Caduceus Clay Celebration Week

by regularturtle



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Caduceus Clay Celebration, Caduceus Clay Week, Caduceus Clay-centric, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Will add characters as they show up!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:33:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29844318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regularturtle/pseuds/regularturtle
Summary: Posting all my works for Caduceus Clay Celebration Week here, in honor of our boy's 100th episode!Day 1: New BeginningsDay 2: Favorite RP MomentsDay 3: Favorite Caduceus-Nein Relationship(yes I'm very behind on posting these, but I will try to do all seven days!)
Relationships: Caduceus Clay & Jester Lavorre, Caduceus Clay & The Mighty Nein
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. Day 1: New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna try to do every day for this, but I'm writing all of these the day of so we'll see lol (the last two days at least will probably be late because of ✨midterms✨ (thanks, Structural Geology and Atmospheric Dynamics...)
> 
> For the prompt New Beginnings, I wasn't really sure what to write at first. Honestly I don't even remember what exactly made Caduceus my favorite character! I remember not understanding him at _all_ in his early episodes, and then at some point he just clicked and became like my absolute favorite character in any fandom ever!
> 
> This is actually the third thing I tried to write for this — the first two were moments where I think he really started to click as a character for me (his first time in Zadash + his sort-of-breakdown at the start of the pirate arc), but I wasn't really happy with what I wrote and couldn't figure out how to finish them. Then I tried just writing the moment where he was introduced and managed to bang this out in like 20 minutes! So voilà, enjoy this short little prompt fill :)

Caduceus had packed his bags months ago. He wasn’t sure exactly when he would leave, really, and honestly it wasn’t until the moment that he _did_ leave that he was entirely sure it would even happen.

It felt very strange to be actually leaving, walking out of the Blooming Grove. He couldn’t even remember the last time he went beyond the three iron fences holding back the blight. He was always going to be the one to stay home while the rest of his family went out, that’s what he had _wanted_ to do. But ten years was a long time for someone to leave and not come back. It felt even longer when _everyone_ had left and not come back.

These people were weird, too. The goblin, Nott, actually _shot_ one of the humans, Beau, just to test his healing.

Honestly, it reminded him a bit of his siblings. That sounded like something they might do. And the other firbolg Nila had asked him for a hug just minutes after meeting him, and _oh,_ that felt nice. It had been a long time since he’d hugged anyone. These people were a good kind of weird.

Still, leaving the Grove left him with a whole tangled web of emotions. He was going in the right direction, he was sure of it. He knew he had to go somewhere to the east, and it wasn’t safe to do that on his own. There was a reason why his family had all left in pairs. But this was his home, and he’d never gone any farther than Shadycreek in his life. Who knew how far he would have to go now to find his family and save his home?

That could wait. For now, he had to help these people. They were grieving the loss of a friend, and they had three more friends that were in danger of being lost forever. Focus on these first steps in front of him, then he could look east. So with one last glance towards his small stone temple and a deep breath of the warm, humid air, he followed his new companions into the Savalirwood.

He’d waited ten years to follow his family on this quest. He could wait a little longer.


	2. Day 2: Favorite RP Moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 of Caduceus Clay Celebration Week, favorite RP moments! Here's one of my early faves with him :) basically writing about the beginning of episode 36, O Captain, Who's Captain!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops I'm a little late on this one! as with the last chapter I rewrote it so many times... but I've got something I'm happy with now :D
> 
> Honestly one of the first RP moments that really made Caduceus click with me was when they first stole the Mistake and he kinda had a breakdown. this boy was comfortable with death but oh boy, Encroaching Waters and Dockside Diplomacy were real rough on him. he basically drowned twice and then almost got left behind by the party! I really loved this scene because it was one of the first times we really got to see behind that calm persona he keeps up. poor guy's kinda a hot mess when you really get into it
> 
> also, can totally relate to being the calm responsible one who always keeps their emotions close, sometimes you just need a breakdown and then you feel a lot better lol

Caduceus felt cold even though it was warm out. Was that normal? The Blooming Grove’s year-round warmth wasn’t all that different from how the Menagerie Coast felt, but he had never nearly drowned before (twice!), he had never gotten into a fight with the zhelezos of Nicodranas and the crew of a ship at the same time, and he had _definitely_ never been left behind on the docks and forced to swim after a ship that was sailing away from him. All in one day. _Ooh,_ boy, he needed to sit down. He sank down onto the deck, shivering, and stared off at the dark, endless sea stretching out beyond him.

He wondered if it would have been better to just stay on the docks, let them all sail away without him. At some point Yasha wandered over to him, and he was faintly aware that he said something to her — _you keep leaving, I think you might have the right idea_ — but mostly he just sat there, salty water dripping onto the deck and making his skin itch.

He felt cold, and numb, and he couldn’t hear the Wildmother’s voice here, so was he even going in the right direction? She had wanted him to go east, and this was very much the opposite of that.

Nott wandered over too and asked him to heal someone, which he obliged without complaint. He liked feeling useful, even if the man would be dead someday anyway. He’d almost died today. He’d almost drowned _twice._ Twice! And now he was setting off onto the sea for gods knew how long, when all he wanted to do was crawl back onto land and never step foot in the water again.

It almost felt like waking up after years of being asleep. He had spent so much time just going through a routine, just trying to keep himself sane over those years of being alone but for the occasional visitor seeking to bury their dead. The fog was gone, burned away, and he was _painfully_ aware of how quickly his breaths were coming now. Everything was just _so much,_ and if he couldn’t handle it now, how would he be able to handle actually being out on the open ocean? What if he was going the wrong way?

 _”Breathe.”_ Jester grabbed his hand and rubbed gentled circles with her thumb. He tried to follow her breathing, slowing down his own to something that was farther from hyperventilating.

“The world is a lot bigger than your cemetery,” she said. “There are a lot of things for you to see, and you have to break out of your comfort zone in order to find the path that you are looking for.”

That was — okay. That made sense to him. Even just leaving the Grove meant stepping out of his comfort zone, but he needed to do it if he ever wanted to find his family and save his home. This was just another step, and he could handle one more step. Maybe this path the Wildmother was putting him on wasn’t linear, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t still on it.

The ocean did belong to her, after all.

“I think I needed to hear that,” he said. He took in another shuddering breath. It tasted like salt. “Breathing’s hard.”

“Just keep doing that.” He kept focusing on Jester’s breathing. Jester was very nice. All of them were nice, really, even if some of them were a bit rougher on the outside.

This wasn’t going to be easy, he was sure of that. But he could handle it. He had friends, for the first time in his life actually. They’d all guide each other, and he would keep looking for that path he was supposed to be on.

Now — he was hungry. They were all probably hungry. He felt a whole lot better after talking with Jester, and some food would do them all some good. So he would go cook, and try to ignore the rocking of the ship beneath him, and think about how he had friends here to support him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _not me thinking about how no one's really had this kind of deep supportive convo with Caduceus where he really opened up like this since..... he's really good at pretending like nothing's wrong ever huh? it's fine!_


	3. Day 3: Favorite Caduceus-Nein Relationship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jester tries and fails to make bread with Caduceus's help, and thinks a little about family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhh whoopsie! I'm way behind on this! but my appreciation for Caduceus transcends time so it shouldn't matter that I'm posting this on the 8th instead of the 6th, right folks?
> 
> I actually didn't write this one from Cad's perspective, wow! I really like Team Cleric as a friendship, I wish we got to see more of the two of them together in canon :D I feel like they could relate on a lot of things but they haven't really talked about it in canon (aka your family being your whole world until one day you leave/they all leave, plus having no real experience with the outside world until you leave your home for what's basically the first time ever!)

“Like this?”

“Like — oh, uh, not exactly, you gotta add it in slowly.”

Baking was _hard._ Jester had never really done it herself before, and it was a whole lot harder than it looked. It was so easy to just buy a ton of pastries at once, but making them yourself took so much more work!

There were a lot of things you kind of just had to know, apparently. The cookbook said to add two cups of flour, which she did, but apparently you weren’t supposed to add it all at once.

“You know _so much_ about baking, Caduceus,” she exclaimed. Caduceus chuckled.

“Oh, yeah, I guess. I think cooking is more my thing, but, you know, I had a lot of time to experiment with recipes.” He took his bowl, dumped a soft ball of dough on the counter, and started kneading it. It looked a _lot_ better than hers, which was goopy in some places and completely dry in others.

“Hmm, yeah. Did your mom teach you how to cook? My mama taught me a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them!”

Caduceus reached up and wiped his forehead, leaving a streak of white flour in his fur. “She taught me a bit, but it was mostly my aunt. Corrin and I did a lot of the family’s cooking together.”

Jester looked at her messy dough and hummed in thought. Maybe she should add more water. She measured out another cup and poured it in, but Caduceus winced when he saw what she did — _oops._ Well, at least they’d be able to eat Caduceus’s batch.

“Well, if we go and visit your home some day, maybe she can teach me too! I think… yeah, I don’t think my dough is working. I could use her help.”

Caduceus smiled, but his ears drooped down a bit in a way he probably didn’t even realize. “Yeah, that would — that would be nice.”

Hmm. “We could go soon if you want, we have some free time now! I know I miss my mama a lot when I haven’t seen her in a while.” And Jester thought, but didn’t say, _And you saw your family for like a day after not seeing them for ten years._ She couldn’t even _imagine_ not seeing her mama for that long.

She’d grown up with her mama as her whole world, until the day she left Nicodranas. And the rest of the world was so amazing, but she couldn’t help but miss her while she was out exploring it! It was probably like that for Caduceus with his family, with that added part of not knowing if they were alive or not for ten years.

Oh boy, they really had to take Caduceus home to see his family soon.

He smiled again, and this time his ears perked back up. “That would be nice. We can talk about it with the rest of the group, maybe, once we’re done baking.” He stopped kneading his ball of dough and put it back in the bowl, covering it with a cloth. “Now let’s — oh dear, let’s try to fix your dough. Actually, maybe just start over.”

Jester dumped her failed attempt at making bread in the trash. Hopefully the second try would be better with Caduceus showing her what to do, like his aunt must have done with him!

And she definitely didn’t miss him casting _guidance_ on her under his breath.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr [@regularturtle](regularturtle.tumblr.com) for me gushing about Caduceus and posting other random stuff :)


End file.
